Christmas in Moablandia

My mom and sister live in Durango, and I live in Carbondale, which means it take approximately 3 hours of driving for all of us to meet in Moab, UT (one of my favorite desert towns)! We decided to meet in the middle this Christmas for a little desert solitaire (one of my favorite Ed Abbey books)!

I try to make it to Moab twice a year to camp and hike, but on this trip we had a room at the Gonzo Inn, which was a nice treat. It gave us time to explore the town, which was completely dead because it turns out nobody goes to Moab in the winter. We didn't mind though. We walked around town until we found a restaurant that was open for dinner before heading back to the Gonzo to settle in for the night.

In the morning we went to Arches National Park to see the sights. Neither my mom nor my sister had ever been to Arches to my surprise. We begun by hiking out to Delicate Arch. There was more snow on the ground than I had anticipated, and there were lots of icy spots on the trail, too. We trudged on nonetheless and made it to Delicate Arch in good time.

My mom was thrilled to have made it to Delicate Arch, but she was even more thrilled to find the car and the heater. We drove around the park a while longer checking out several more arches before heading back into Moab for lunch.

After lunch, we went our separate ways, and vowed to meet in the middle again next year for a second round at desert solitaire. Until then...

Harry Gates Hut

Hut Trip Tip: When overnighting in an isolated mountain chalet beware of guests "exercising" with hatchets! 

I've never been on a winter hut trip nor had I spent any time in a 10th Mountain Hut ever, so when the opportunity to venture to Harry Gates Hut presented itself early this winter, I jumped at the opportunity!  Eight of us woke up early on December 14th and began our trek up to the hut. 

The trail climbed quickly into an aspen forest before spitting us out onto a 4-wheeling road that's used to access the hut during the summer months. We arrived at the hut in the late afternoon, cold, sore and tired! The inviting hut quickly made us feel cozy and comfortable, and we were quickly ready for cocktail hour. 

We all pitched in to whip up a delicious spaghetti dinner complete with garlic bread and salad. Surprisingly we even had some leftovers. We spent the night playing games, sharing stories, laughing and stoking the fire. Just before bed we decided to head outside and celebrate our journey by lighting sparklers and dancing around in the moonlight (it wasn't nearly as weird as I just made it sound)! 

In the morning, we made a huge breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, veggies and bagels before cleaning up the hut and beginning our hike/ski/snowshoe back down to our cars. It was an adventure for sure that already has us all thinking about which hut to venture to next winter!